Wanted! Jane Turner (1936)

Wanted! Jane Turner, an RKO B-flick from 1936, presents us with crimefighters of a different cloth: the postal inspectors. Two such operatives are Thomas Mallory (Lee Tracy) and Doris Martin (Gloria Stuart) who are assigned to track down a murderous mail bandit and his gang from New York to L.A. There's some shady business over illicit cash stuffed into letters being sent across the country. Who knew postal inspectors could perform so ably as action heroes?Wanted! Jane Turner snagged its share of good reviews when it first came out, them critics claiming it above-average and laced with good laughs. I agree. I enjoyed the biting banter between the two leads. And the rapid pace. And the peek at the crime-stopping tech and methods they had back in the day. Fast-talking ginger Lee Tracy - whom I dub the poor man's Jimmy Cagney or the middle class guy's Pat O'Brien - infuses the screen with his usual bustling energy. Note that this movie takes place during a time when male chauvinism was considered de rigueur, and Mallory can get away with a cutting retort like "Listen, simple..." to Doris. Not that Doris is all that cowed by Mallory's words. Gloria Stuart imbues her with a backbone and gumption enough to take on the killer by her lonesome. Honestly, Gloria Stuart registers more on my radar than does Lee Tracy. I remember her fondly from The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), and Poor Little Rich Girl (1936; probably my favorite Shirley Temple movie). Younger generations will know her as Old Rose in The Titanic (1997). Anyway, Stuart and Tracy generate enough chemistry thru banter that the script doctor could've found a way to make the romance more organic instead of feeling shoe-horned it in.Postal detectives are still around today. Their most recent incarnation are the Postables from the Signed, Sealed, Delivered television movies. Back in the early sound era of cinema, Wanted! Jane Turner wasn't the only film to feature the postal sleuth, not with Universal's The Postal Inspector gracing the screen in 1936 and Alan Ladd's Appointment with Danger doing same in 1951. Whew! Who knew this profession could be so glamorous and thrilling and be more fraught with danger than just the neighborhood dog nibbling a chunk out of your leg? Next, someone should do a movie about the library police. 3.5 out of 5 stars for this modest RKO production.